Future Webinars

2015 Webinars

AMP is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program and by the Florida Board of Clinical Laboratory Personnel.

Individual attendees requesting P.A.C.E.® credit should use the form provided below. If you are viewing the webinar in a group setting, please use the P.A.C.E.® Group Attendance Roster, below. Each group participant is required to print and sign his or her name and email address to verify attendance. Once the webinar has concluded, the designated "Site Coordinator" must email this group attendance form to Kathleen Carmody, P.A.C.E.® Coordinator, in order for each participant to receive P.A.C.E.® credit.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology enables the unbiased
identification of mutations across the genome with high sensitivity and
specificity. NGS platforms routinely produce high volumes of data, which
are amenable to analysis using specialized bioinformatics algorithms
and methods. The goal of this webinar is to introduce the steps in a
typical DNASeq bioinformatics analysis workflow, to illustrate the
progression from raw FASTQ files to annotated variant calls. Basics of sequence
alignment will be introduced, and an overview of variant calling
methods for single nucleotide variants (SNVs), short insertions and
deletions (indels), copy number variants (CNVs) and structural variants
will be presented.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe various sequencing platforms (Illumina, Ion Torrent)
2. Discuss the various steps in a typical DNASeq bioinformatics analysis workflow
3. Demonstrate an understanding of basics of sequence alignment, an appreciation of the BLAST algorithm

AMP is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.® Program and by the Florida Board of Clinical Laboratory Personnel.

AMP Genomic Sequencing Procedure Cost and Value Models Tutorial

Friday, February 13, 2015

1:00pm Eastern

Presenters:

Aaron D. Bossler, MD, PhD, University of Iowa

Chair, Economic Affairs Committee

Charles Matthews, Vice President, Boston Healthcare

Panelists:

Linda M. Sabatini, PhD, HCLD, Northshore University Health System

Katherine Tynan, PhD, Tynan Consulting

Description:

CMS announced late last year that it will gap-fill all of the new Genomic Sequencing Procedure (GSP) CPT codes. While the new codes were made available on January 1, 2015, Medicare payment rates for GSP codes will not be finalized until November 2015 and national payment rates will not go into effect until January 1, 2016.

This means that labs need to work with Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and commercial payers to ensure adequate pricing/reimbursement for these codes.

MAC values for these codes need to be submitted to CMS on or about April 1, 2015. MACs around the country have started to request input from providers to help ensure appropriate allowances are established.

To help AMP members estimate the cost basis of their GSP services, AMP initiated a micro-costing and health economic evaluation of several of these CPT codes. The availability of these tools will help AMP members who want to participate in this growing field articulate the cost and value of these procedures.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn the coding for new genomic sequencing procedures
2. Receive an overview of the cost and value project
3. Discover how to put the tools into practice

This webinar will provide an overview of factors important in clinical NGS test development and validation guidelines for clinical NGS tests. The professional standards and guidelines for quality and compliance that have been developed to date will be discussed and aspects such as instrument validation, assay/test validation, quality management, proficiency testing, and the use of reference materials during routine testing will be emphasized.